They’re Just Words… Or are They?

One of the first things I have copywriters do when they start at Prime Concepts is to read information on writing with keywords.  The information is definitely helpful since we are a custom website design, online marketing, graphic design, interactive design and internet marketing company.

Really, though, I’ve learned how important it is for all companies to incorporate keywords into their web content.  But what if your website has already been built and you don’t have a new website planned anytime soon?  You can still incorporate keywords into articles, newsletters and blog posts you put on the web.

Check out some of these tips for using keywords:

1. Work Through Elements

Search engines completely ignore elements like punctuation and line breaks, so you can too.  If you have a three word key-phrase, there’s no reason you can’t end one sentence with the first two keywords and then start the following sentence with the last keyword.  Work through elements and get noticed by the search engines!

2. Form Quotes from “Personal” Key-Phrases

Incorporate quotes in the first person into your content since many people search in the first person.  For example, if you offer leadership training like our client, Greg Schinkel of Unique Training and Development, you could say something like, “Many managers wonder, ‘How can I engage and motivate my employees?’”  When someone types this question into a search engine, you have a good shot at getting them to your site!

3. Include Opposite Key-Phrases

So what if a really good key-phrase you’ve found doesn’t apply to your business?  How can you incorporate these into your content?  Find a legitimate way to use the key-phrase—even if it’s a page telling a client why the key-phrase is a bad idea or doesn’t apply to your business.

4. Add Other Words

So maybe you’ve tried to incorporate key-phrases into your content but it just ended up sounding clunky and uncomfortable.  The solution is to add other words to the beginning or end of the key-phrase.

For example, one of our clients, Agadia, offers “prior authorization software” for healthcare management.  Using “prior authorization software” repeatedly is no good.  Instead, they can incorporate other words before the phrase, like “web-based” and “feature-rich.” Or, they can incorporate other words after their phrase, like “solution.”

5. Consider “Stop” Words in Choppy Phrases

If they key-phrase you need to use isn’t complete or wouldn’t make sense in a sentence, consider adding “stop” words.  “Stop” words are words like “of,” “the,” “a,” and “for” that the search engines weed out anyway.